A 45-year-old man crawled for two hours to reach a telephone to call an ambulance after surviving a 100ft fall down an Isle of Wight cliff.

The man, from London, had been abseiling on the cliffs at Ventnor when he fell, a spokesman for Hampshire police said.

The spokesman explained that because the man was alone he had to crawl for two hours to find a phone and call an ambulance at 7.30pm on Sunday.

The man is recovering in hospital from injuries which were described by police as non-life-threatening.